World News - Al-Qaida in Iraq says it has 12,000 fighters In audiotape, leader says Bush policies have helped Iran

Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a new audiotape on Friday to have mobilized 12,000 fighters and said the group was winning faster than expected. “The al-Qaida army has 12,000 fighters in Iraq, and they have vowed to die for God’s sake,” said Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, in an audiotape made available on militant Web sites. Also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, al-Muhajir became the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by the U.S. military in June. The al-Qaida leader also described President Bush as “the most stupid leader that America, the country of slaves and narcotics, has ever known.” Being stupid is no barrier to being elected and reelected, you just need a majority that vote stupid ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Alcohol-based hand cleaners for hospital staff could save lives and reduce health care costs, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. The U.N. agency estimated that 1.4 million people worldwide are sick at any given moment with infections they catch in hospitals, mainly spread when doctors and nurses do not clean their hands every time they tend to a new patient.Up to 10 percent of those who catch an infection in hospital die as a result, said Didier Pittet, leader of the WHO global patient safety challenge.Rubbing one's hands with an alcohol-based solution is easier to integrate into health care routines than constantly cleaning in a sink, he said.Some 35 countries have signed on to a WHO initiative to fight infections associated with health care practices. ...http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061110/ts_nm/who_hands_dc

Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed in a new audio tape Friday to be winning the war faster than expected in Iraq and said it had mobilized 12,000 fighters, while the U.S. military reported the deaths of four more American troops.Three U.S. soldiers and a Marine were killed Thursday in Iraq, the U.S. military said, bringing the number of Americans who have died in the country so far this month to 25. At least 105 U.S. forces died in October, the fourth highest monthly toll of the war.On the audio tape made available on militant websites, the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader also welcomed the Republican electoral defeat that led to the departure of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld."The al-Qaeda army has 12,000 fighters in Iraq, and they have vowed to die for God's sake," a man introduced as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir said....http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-10-iraq_x.htm?csp=34

A Catholic nun has been sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping militias kill hundreds of people hiding in a hospital during Rwanda's 1994 genocide, an official said Friday.Theophister Mukakibibi was sentenced by a traditional gacaca court for helping Hutu militiamen to kill ethnic Tutsis seeking refuge from the slaughter in Butare hospital, where she worked."She was responsible for selecting Tutsis and would throw them out of the hospital and the militia would then kill them," said Jean Baptiste Ndahumba, president of the local gacaca court in Butare town. "This nun was organizing people to be killed." She was jailed Thursday.She would also hold regular meetings with Hutu extremist groups and denied food to Tutsis hiding in the hospital, he said by telephone. About 20 people testified against her, he added....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,228668,00.html

Attorneys for a man accused of killing a University of Vermont student want the charges dismissed, saying their client can't get a fair trial because of what an FBI agent wrote in a weekly newspaper. The FBI agent, writing as "An Anonymous Cop," described his personal reaction to the search for the man accused of abducting 21-year-old Michelle Gardner-Quinn as she walked toward campus on Oct. 7 and killing her. He referred to the suspect as "evil," a "sexual predator" and a "two-legged hyena." FBI spokesman Paul Holstein said the author of the article, which appeared Wednesday in the weekly Seven Days newspaper, was an FBI agent. "We're not happy with it, and we'll take steps to ensure it doesn't happen again," Holstein said. "We take it very seriously when we have an unauthorized media contact, and it also is an issue because we have a policy that we do not discuss ongoing investigations or prosecutions." ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2644181

This is probably not what President Bush had in mind when he stressed bipartisanship after the Democratic Party's midterm elections sweep.A key Senate Republican has joined Democrats in opposing one of Bush's initiatives for the lame-duck Congress: John Bolton's nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.With leaders from both parties promising a new bipartisan Washington, Bush began efforts to get two of his most controversial decisions approved before the Democrats take over. Along with Bolton's nomination, Bush said he would like to move forward on legislation to retroactively authorize the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program. Bush said he would like to see action on both issues before year's end. The Democratic-controlled Congress begins its term in January....http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/10/bolton.congress/index.html?eref=rss_world